Chinese Grammar Core Course — Grammar roadmap

Pletec LLC Editorial Team ·

This compact course turns the most reusable Chinese grammar patterns into a sequence you can read, say, and rebuild. Treat every example as a frame: change one word, then say the new sentence aloud.

  1. 1. Build a sentence

    Chinese often keeps the action early and places time before the action. Build the short subject–verb–object spine first, then add time and place.

  2. 2. Describe and ask

    Question words stay in the slot where the answer would go. Yes–no questions use 吗, an A-not-A pattern, or an interrogative word; the word order does not flip.

  3. 3. Time, ability, comparison

    了 marks a bounded or newly relevant event, not a simple past tense. Look for a completed action, a change of situation, or a contrast with the present.

  4. 4. Move information

    A complement tells whether an action succeeded, finished, found something, or moved in a direction. It is part of the verb phrase, so keep it next to the verb.

  5. 5. Link ideas

    Words such as 在, 从, 到, 给, 跟, and 对 introduce the setting, path, recipient, companion, or viewpoint before the main verb. Read them as a relationship, not as isolated translations.

  6. 6. Read, write, review

    Find the main predicate before translating. Then bracket time, place, coverb phrases, modifiers, and complements; a long sentence becomes several manageable blocks.

Use the existing detailed lessons for word order, le, de, questions, and comparisons; then revisit this page without translations.